Community

Yesterday was funny.

As I was riding my bike into work, singing "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.. a beautiful day in the neighborhood..." with my zippered cardigan in tow, I was thinking of the only care in the world that I could muster in such a state of bliss: the waste of an amaryllis that we own, which is determined to flower only when Mendon and I are out of town and will miss it's short-lived bloom, even if this means blooming 6 whole months after season. Ya hear? This is the second time. This is all we've ever seen of our investment, which on a rare, wintry occasion, should become this.
Not bitter Not bitter Not bitter.

Oh well, hope you enjoy the bloom, Andrew and Jeremy!

And, from this great height of cardigan-loving neighborly love, I couldn't have predicted that I would be running around my neighborhood at night, playing vigilante, calling the cops, and trying to find the desperate and screaming woman that sounded like she was being attacked, to be mild about it.

Our home is a funny place for us, because we really love it, but there are also some very big concerns that we face here, too. It's beautiful and quiet, we have peaceful, kind, and friendly neighbors, but we also have a certain amount of gang violence that is spreading into our neighborhood, and it's not so uncommon to hear gun shots or some other evidence violence at night. (By the way, the woman last night was uninjured. It sounds like she had gotten a ride home from a cab, there was a dispute over the fare, and she must have felt threatened by something in the situation. I can think of plenty of options). And, even though I'm also distressed by having gang violence move our way, it also feels good to know that our community is just not interested in tolerating any shenanigans. Last night, not only were Mendon and I calling the police and making a dash towards the woman, but several other of our neighbors, some of them, ahem, armed, were also doing the same. In addition to being willing to save our community in such a fearless way, we've also had meet-ups and rallies with the police to improve the state of things.

While, of course, there are skeptics and critics, I think I love my community even more for adamantly refusing to be badgered by young men who still live with their mommies and happen to have some anger/territory problems.